The Wager
by heka
Summary: [Challenge fic for December][Dark x Riku][Two shot, as specified] In which clothing run rampant, Dark has a Brilliant Idea, Riku loses her sense of propriety and Satoshi gets pimples. Let the fun and games begin!
1. Chapter 1

Heka: Coming up with a two-shot is going to be _hard_ you know – liltenshiarishi; like seriously. Damn.

Shigure: No one told you to write this.

Heka: I shall ignore that. This was written within 3 hours and hence quite sparse. But I liked it as I had great fun writing it and coming up with analogies. And the title's a complete flop.

Dark: She would just like to add the standard disclaimers here, and that this was written after the Second Hand of Time arc, which is, in my personal opinion, the best arc of D. N. Angel ever.

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**Title: The Wager **

It had all started with a simple bet.

Now we all know about bets; they start small then unravel into hugely impossible things like the pile of smelly laundry rotting at the corner just dying to be washed but so damn difficult to start because you really don't know where to start from in the first place.

Coupled with the fact that it's _last month's_ laundry in there. Do you _really_ want to touch it?

Our story begins like that – simple and short, like a white blouse thrown carelessly into the empty laundry basket, the calm before the storm.

'Daisuke. I have a brilliant idea.'

Naturally, bets have to start somewhere, usually from _absolutely-brilliant-beyond-brilliant_ ideas… which go down in flames anyway.

'Dark, it's 3 am in the morning. You just stole some painting from some museum an hour ago, and _now_ you have a brilliant idea?' a slightly whiny voice muttered back from under the ruffled covers. 'Can't it wait till morning?'

Dark grinned, the flashy, triumphant know-it-all grin at his Tamer, who merely dozed on.

'No. Because it wouldn't sound as nice if I said it in the morning.'

Daisuke moved about under the covers a bit more before finally giving up to his Other Side and listening to what the Great Phantom Thief had in mind.

'Let's have a bet.'

Cue throwing of a pair of shorts into the metaphorical laundry basket.

'I wager that if I kiss my Sacred Maiden before you, I will get one whole day to myself.'

Daisuke was still dozing, so it was only natural to wait for a while before he actually reacted to that statement. When he finally _did_ react, of course, the result was traditional, loud and generally annoyed a lot of dogs and random animals in the Azumano district.

'WHAT?!'

And thus the scene was set.

-/-

The next morning, Daisuke was rudely awoken up by his fellow comrade-in-arms who decided that until Daisuke agreed to the conditions of the bet, Dark would make it his personal agenda to annoy the hell out of Daisuke until the redhead said yes.

Thus, Daisuke woke up with a headache, and not to mention several muscle aches all over his body.

He told himself that he would be strong, and would not go so low as to agree to this ridiculous bet.

However, by midmorning as he was trying very hard to ignore Dark's singing of 'Ten Thousand Green Bottles (The Uncensored Version)' loudly in his head while listening to his teacher drone on about trigonometry in general, Daisuke felt that no one, who lasted through torture and torment of any kind in any war, ever had Dark Mousy singing in their head.

And by lunch time, he was settling the terms of the bet with the sneaky bastard in his head and ignoring Saehara's serious talk about how much Daisuke the little boy had changed into this serious angsty teenage guy and how he could talk to Saehara any time he wanted.

Of course, Daisuke removed the hidden recorder from Saehara's pants, and continued settling the terms of the betting, albeit in a quieter and more private place.

They would have to find their own respective Sacred Maidens and obtain a kiss from said party before Christmas. Daisuke wasn't supposed to interfere with Dark when he was in control and vice versa. Should Daisuke succeed, he would have one week of no nonsense, no annoying Dark Mousy in his head, unless it came to the occasional rag which Dark seriously couldn't resist pulling on his mild mannered Tamer.

Should Dark succeed however, he would get one whole day to himself, _with_ his Sacred Maiden.

'Tough luck,' Dark smirked when Daisuke protested. 'So what will it be? Yes? No?'

Daisuke sighed. 'Okay then.'

Let's add two more shirts into that basket now shall we?

-/-

Daisuke walked home with Riku that day, trying very hard to drum up the courage to actually move his head to kiss Riku, with Dark whispering words of encouragement in his head, in accordance to the bet's terms of agreement.

Eventually, he gave up at Riku's doorstep and was in a rather gloomy mood that night when his mother announced that Dark had another mission to go through, which was to steal another painting by the same artist from another museum. Daisuke barely had time to wonder why priceless art pieces kept appearing in their town when they kept getting stolen before Emiko flashed the picture of Riku in front of him and Dark had already pounced and taken control.

'Evening, Emiko. Ooh, look, mistletoe.' He grinned as he produced a tiny sprig of the plant from nowhere.

And as Emiko gushed on about how dashing he looked that night, Dark bent down for a perfunctory kiss on her blushing cheek.

'Bundle up, dear! It's cold out tonight,' she tossed him his usual black coat as he called With and swooped out of the balcony window.

Dark wasn't really interested in the heist that night; he was already planning what to do with his particularly feisty Sacred Maiden who had an excellent aim and how to properly show Daisuke how to kiss a lady. He performed it with routine accuracy; outwitting Saehara (who didn't need much to outwit in the first place) and was laughing out of the museum even before the old man knew what hit him.

The real challenge came later, when he was flying past the Harada mansion. He then noticed it was beginning to snow, slowly and quietly.

Wonderful atmosphere, he decided as he blanked and wheeled down towards his favourite piece of architecture in the entire town.

She wasn't outside, the first thing he noticed as he landed as silently as a cat on the balcony. He then placed two gloved fingers on the balcony glass, listening out for anything and (automatically) peering through the glass to see if anyone was in.

The room was empty.

Dark shrugged and began to look elsewhere, his fingers tapping impatiently on the glass.

'Riku…' he sang out quietly as he peered over the balcony.

His eyes scanned the lawn of the Haradas before –

_Ah_.

This was equivalent to throwing an entire set of football uniform after a week of practice and rolling about in the mud into the laundry basket.

There she was, sitting out on the lawn, enjoying the night sky and letting the virgin snow kiss her cheeks.

Dark felt a small prick of jealousness for the snow.

Then again, he felt that he couldn't have picked a better Sacred Maiden. She even had the location selected for him already!

Unable to leave a lady sitting out there in the snow alone, Dark swooped down form the balcony and slowly approached her from behind.

She looked so innocent and sweet in her nightshirt, which was just so unbelievably sexy to him that it took all he had not to tackle her there and then and kiss her senseless. Damn that Daisuke for capturing her heart. Dark could be a pervert, a sex maniac and a flirtatious playboy but above all, he was a gentleman.

Hence, Riku was rudely interrupted from her star gazing by a Thief when he sat down next to her.

'Well, _hello_ there.'

She froze. She'd know that voice anywhere.

'Dark…' she breathed, her mood immediately spoilt and rapidly entering the Danger Zone.

'You remembered me. Brilliant. You wouldn't mind me sitting here right? I just want some peace and quiet with my favourite person.'

Riku was about to stand up and move but at his words, she stopped. She looked at him incredulously.

'Peace and quiet?'

'What? I'm human too. I want quiet sometimes too, you know.'

Riku nodded slowly to herself. Dark Mousy wanted peace and quiet. That was like… like Satoshi suddenly breaking out in pimples or something – a temporal impossibility.

The pair sat in awkward silence for a while, before Dark felt that he had to say something.

'So, Riku? What are you doing out here? Usually, you're in your room… but today?'

'I thought someone wanted peace and quiet?' Riku growled, her mood already settling down in Danger Zone.

Dark seemed to ignore the danger signs. 'Yes, well, you can't expect me to actually keep silent for the next twenty minutes or so right? The tension between us… man, it's bloody thick.'

'Not my fault,' Riku muttered in a small voice as she continued looking at the sky, quite forgetting where her last constellation was.

Dark smiled knowingly in reply, content to just sit there next to her and watch the night sky.

'Okay… fine.' Riku's resistance crumbled as her conscience ate her up from the inside. 'I wasn't in my room because… I guessed you'd be coming tonight. And I'm sorry about the tension,' she added in a rush.

Dark grinned wider. That's what he liked about her. She was just too cute for words.

'No problem,' Dark replied cheerfully. 'At least we cleared it up now.'

Riku nodded slowly again, as though in a dream. She had just apologized to Dark Mousy for what… tension between them? Why did she do that? And she was actually having a civilized conversation with him…

Satoshi better be having a huge acne attack right now.

'Hey… somebody looks troubled here,' Dark mused, looking at the girl beside him who was frowning in such a terrible manner. He moved to brush a lock of hair from her face and produced that same sprig of mistletoe from nowhere.

'Well, what do you know…' he smirked, dangling the sprig in front of her. Riku stared at it quizzically for a moment.

Then her face changed.

'Oh no.'

'Oh yes,' Dark leered, leaning in. 'It's traditional.'

'Dark Mousy!' Riku squeaked, putting her hand up between their mouths. 'You jerk!'

She pushed his face away brusquely, doing slight damage to his perfect chin. 'Don't even think about it!' she hissed as she scrambled further away from him in the grass.

'But it's traditional! You're not going to deny centuries of tradition now, are you?' Dark whined.

'Try me,' she snarled, bristling.

'Look, kissing under the mistletoe is a sign of forgiveness!' Dark reasoned hastily. 'In Norse mythology…'

'We aren't Normans!' Riku snapped.

'Look but you just apologized right? And I have to apologize to you as well right? For interrupting your star gazing?'

'With a kiss? Hah!' Riku laughed derisively.

'Seriously! Look, it's honestly a sign of forgiveness! And besides, it's Christmas! Just one?'

Riku glared back. Dark continued on earnestly.

'Look, I promise, it'll be a short, chaste one. I won't do anything!'

'Right. Kissing isn't _anything_, eh? _Goodnight_, Dark.'

And she turned on her heel, striding towards the mansion. Dark huffed (he was so close) and scrambled after her, catching her wrist. He stopped and without thinking, pulled her back.

Riku spun slightly on her heel in surprise and crumpled onto the ground in agony. Dark landed on his knees beside her breathlessly.

'Ouch…' Riku groaned on her back, trying to get up. However she realized her hands were pinned above her head… by that perverse Thief no less.

'Let go!' she struggled against his grip. It shifted slightly, but that was all.

Dark had moved until her head was situated in front of his knees and he bent down, staring straight into her angry eyes, the two of them breathing hard.

'_Look_, damn it, I'll _prove_ it to you.'

One hand holding the mistletoe and another one pinning both her wrists on top of his thighs, he leant further down and covered her lips with his.

Riku felt a impression of sensual heat on her own lips, so different from the cold previously – she noted with alarming alacrity – and protested violently but it lasted barely a second before he broke it off, releasing her arms.

'See?' he gasped impatiently – and was that a hint of a blush on his cheeks? 'That wasn't so bad now was it?'

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Riku was sitting up and shooting daggers at him.

'You – you…' Words failed her as she struggled to express her fury against that sexist perverse jerk who –

Dark only managed a silly smile, so happy he was at actually completing the task before Daisuke did, that he did the only natural thing a man would do to thank a girl who helped him out.

He pulled her into a warm hug.

'Thanks Riku. You helped me a lot back there.'

Riku was too surprised to even think of an answer, only experiencing the brief feel of being warmer than she had ever been and strong arms protecting her for an instant before Dark leapt into the night sky with With on his back, flying homewards.

Unsurprisingly, he melted back into Daisuke (just in time too), who was, understandably, very upset over the whole matter.

With that, the laundry basket was already half-full and already smelled badly – but the wheel of _consequences_ had yet to begin turning.

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Heka: I don't care if I don't win; I just had so much _fun_ writing this! And I discovered this on wikipedia:

Bill McLain wrote in his book, "There are many legends about mistletoe. One Scandinavian legend states that Loki, the god of mischief, killed Baldur, the god of peace, by shooting him with an arrow made from mistletoe. Other gods and goddesses were saddened by Baldur's death and asked that his life be restored, which it was. In appreciation, his mother Frigga hung up the mistletoe and promised to kiss all who passed under it. Because of this, mistletoe became the symbol of both forgiveness and love." So it's true!

And, though Dark didn't say it: 'It sometimes believed that it was once used as a way to announce your love interest, if two kissed under a mistletoe it was a way of publicly stating that the male wished to wed the lady.'

Dark: Hey! You blew my cover!

Riku: Oh! Now I _see_! _Dark_…!

Dark: Excuse me while I calm my fair lady.

Heka: And I'm sorry to have cursed Satoshi with acne. I hope you'll forgive me!

Satoshi: Yeah. Right.

Heka: Review and you'll have cookies with Dark Mousy's signature on them.


	2. Chapter 2

Heka: Now for part 2. This came out surprisingly easy. Thank you, liltenshiarishi for actually thinking up of such a –

Shigure: Spastic challenge which made her ignore all her other fics –

Dark, Heka: Hey!

Shigure: What?

Heka: She's nice!

Dark: Yeah! Aside from the fact that she's slapped me a couple of times before…

Heka: You better not let her hear that.

Dark: Pfft. She's just a little girl –

Heka: So is Riku.

Dark: … Damn. Standard disclaimers apply. And this was written after the Second Hand of Time arc, which is, in my personal opinion –

Heka, Shigure: We _know_!

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**Title: The Aftermath **

After last night's little breach of privacy, Riku sat on her bed and chewed her lip meticulously.

Damn that Thief… why was he so bloody interested in her anyway?

Something the pervert said last night surfaced slowly and lazily, with the effect of a submarine in a boating lake.

'_You remembered me. Brilliant. You wouldn't mind me sitting here right? I just want some peace and quiet for a while with my _favourite_ person.' _

Something in Riku flared in alarm and she turned red.

_Favourite_ person…?

She was his favourite person? _Why_? Wasn't he supposed to like Risa?

And that voice… it sounded like when Daisuke hugged her and told her not to forget him. That voice…

_What the heck was going on? _

She huffed and blew a mischievous strand of hair from her face, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. _Dark was not Daisuke_. Her eyes were seeing but not taking note that the sun had already long risen, and that she was potentially – no, already – late for track practice.

She frowned all the harder. She was thinking too much about that insignificant Thief… She couldn't tell Niwa about last night…!

The door creaked open softly.

'Riku…?'

Risa peeked in tentatively. Ever since her sister returned back from her star gazing the night before in an unexplained terrible temper, Risa had been on her toes, knowing that any wrong move on her part would bring her sister's rage upon her. This careful behaviour had been aided by the fact that she had never seen her sister this angry before, except the night when Dark first appeared and her sister had been exclaiming about some pervert at her window.

Thus Risa resolved to tread very carefully around her sister.

'Riku, you're late for practice…' Risa replied softly. Riku made no indication that she had heard anything her sister just said.

'Riku…' Risa persisted weakly. She didn't know which was worst; telling her sister that she was late and get a barricade of words from her or _not_ telling her that she was late and get a barricade of words from her later on.

She decided that getting it over and done with would be much better.

'Riku, you're late for practice!' Risa announced loudly.

Riku barely nodded, still lost in furrowed thought. Risa had just screwed her courage up and was going to hit her sister on the head for not listening to her when Riku muttered her name.

'Risa –'

Risa squeaked, stopped and reverted back to her meek and mild version, grinning weakly.

'Y – Yes?' she stuttered, standing behind her sister.

Riku continued staring out aimlessly into the view beyond her balcony.

The figurative laundry basket pops into existence at the back of the story, already half filled and smelling bad but at Riku's words, two pairs of jeans pop into being on top of the basket and drift down gently.

'I have a problem.'

Risa was immediately on high alert. Riku rarely had problems.

'Go on.'

'Let's just say…' Riku began slowly, still frowning to herself. 'Let's just say that… someone did something… really bad to you, and you were really angry. What would you do in return?'

Risa's eyes grew larger with amazement before the emotion was replaced with righteous fury.

'Riku!' she exclaimed, grabbing her dazed sister by the shoulders and turning her around firmly. 'Riku! Did something happen to you? Did Niwa do something bad? If he did, I'll never forgive him!'

Riku blinked. Then she smiled. 'Oh Risa. This has nothing to do with Niwa. And I was just asking you.'

Risa gripped her sister's shoulders tighter, assuming a staunch pose of victory, her eyes blazing with justice. 'Don't worry, Riku! I'll get back at Niwa for you!'

Something flickered in Riku's eyes. 'Get… back?'

Risa patted her sister's head sympathetically. Sometimes, she seemed to be the older sister in question. 'Yes, Riku,' she said with a sinister smile. 'I watched it in some movie. Don't get angry, Riku, get _even_.'

Now it was Riku's turn to smile. 'Get _even_, eh?'

And several more sets of uniforms appear mysteriously, landing on top of the laundry basket.

-/-

'What? What do you mean there's a _third_ painting! You told me that Alderson only painted in pairs!'

Emiko tried to clam her currently very irate son down while moving the paintings stolen a couple of nights ago. 'Well… that's why we wanted you to steal his paintings! Because he had never painted in trios before! There was Constance's Rise, Constance's Triumph and now Constance's Fall! There's one painting that wasn't supposed to be there!'

'Mother!' Daisuke raged.

'Look, just steal that painting tonight okay? Dad says that there's something wrong with them…'

Daisuke simmered. 'So?'

'So it means that we have to seal them! _Bad _magic might get around you know…'

'Don't you 'bad magic' me, Mum! I grew out of that when I was ten!'

Emiko put the pair of paintings down and peered at her son curiously. 'Are you alright? You never seemed this angry about stealing things before… Did something happen?'

She placed a hand on his forehead in concern. Daisuke flushed and backed away.

'No – Nothing!' he stammered before vanishing up his room.

Emiko smiled to herself. He looked so much like Kosuke.

Meanwhile, Daisuke was currently having a massive argument with his inner being, Dark Mousy as he climbed the stairs to his room.

'I won! Fair and square!' Dark was saying.

'That kiss wasn't valid! It was supposed to be taken willingly!' Daisuke retorted.

'Yeah, well, I was proving a point. And besides, we never specified this in the agreement! We only had to take a kiss, not accept it with flowers and thanks!'

'Dark!' Daisuke yelled in his head.

'Geez, there's no need to be so loud. I'm just here you know, like right next to you…' Dark said airily, closing his eyes. 'Besides, there's no point in arguing with me, that's like arguing with yourself. You felt the kiss too right? So it's like me giving it to her for you.'

Daisuke ignored him. Dark opened one eye.

Daisuke was still angry. Dark didn't look it, but he genuinely cared for his Tamer. When he had been taken by the Second Hand of Time, Dark had been furious, all ready to kill the Hikaris for even coming up with that wretched piece of art in the first place. And he guessed how upset Daisuke really was – he knew how angry _he'd_ be if someone took a kiss from _his_ Sacred Maiden…

Who happened to be Daisuke's Sacred Maiden as well. Fate was cruel indeed.

'Look, Daisuke...'

There was a short pause as Daisuke stopped in front of his door. Then –

'Yeah. I know,' Daisuke muttered.

Dark felt terribly exposed for a moment. Damn Tamers…

'Well, now,' Dark marshalled his remaining dignity as Daisuke opened the door with a small smile. 'Pick your uniform okay, before Emiko does?'

Daisuke opened his wardrobe and began to sift through the excessive amount of clothing he had – too much for a boy – he felt, before his hands paused again.

Dark winced in preparation for whatever his Tamer was going to say.

'And I'll let you have that one day, Dark. A bet's a bet, and… I lost.'

Dark nodded silently in thanks.

He'd won right? Even Daisuke said so.

So why did it feel like he lost?

-/-

_I will take _Constance's Fall_ by Russell Alderson at 9pm tonight. _

Riku nodded to herself as the newsperson announced the next sensational heist the Phantom Thief was going to carry out. Risa was at a sleepover tonight with her squeaky-squeamish friends about Dark, so no one was to know that Riku was going to seek that Thief out herself and to confront him about the previous night and to deal him what he deserved.

Get _even_ eh…

The Thief would never know what hit him.

With a menacing smile and half an hour to go before the stated time, Riku turned and walked out of the house, pulling on a jacket over her tank top as she did so.

Outside the house, Riku found her trusty bicycle, stepped on the pedal and she was off, whizzing towards the museum that the painting was housed.

As she cycled through the emptying streets, she wondered absentmindedly to herself why priceless paintings kept appearing in her town, where the moment they were announced to have arrived, they would immediately be stolen by some random Phantom Thief.

She shrugged to herself. Some people were just stupid then… her thoughts returning to how she was going to weave her way through her town.

After twenty minutes of cycling and cutting through back alleys and narrow ways, Riku saw the museum appear before her eyes and she quickened her pace.

As she reached the courtyard of the museum, which had been cordoned off by the police to prevent entry, Riku struggled through the gaggle of anxious reporters and before she knew it, was right in front of the museum's front door.

She peered through the harried policemen who were pushing the reporters back behind the cordon, catching a glimpse of Saehara and several higher-ups before she was jostled to the side by frantic reporters.

It was then, as she was roughly pushed aside and away from the entrance that something occurred to her.

Dark Mousy was always the one to look for her after he stole something.

How the hell was _she_ supposed to find _him_ instead?

She slowly took her bicycle and wheeled it off to a back alley away from the museum. Parking her bike by the wall, she walked out of the alley and stood under a nearby lamp post to consider her options.

She checked her watch. There were still a couple of minutes before nine.

How was she supposed to look for him? She could try to usual approach, which would be the fan girl approach by squealing loudly and yelling his name – but she felt that she didn't want to inflate his ego further, so scrap that idea.

Besides, there were a hell of other girls who did that and _they_ never saw Dark Mousy up close and personal like she did (albeit reluctantly, with her protesting violently at the mere suggestion of that _absurd_ idea).

She leant back on the cool steel and bit her bottom lip.

It was _essential_ that she find him. She could have asked Risa, the reigning expert on Dark Mousy, but then it would have led to a lot of complications and Risa would be sure to question what was wrong. Riku was already very insistent on not letting anyone know of the previous night's incident and having Risa ask questions would be inconvenient for her. Thus the second idea was squashed.

She knew what to do _after_ he was in front of her, but she hadn't considered the earlier section of her master plan.

Damn it.

It looked like she had to wait for him to peek through her windows again before she could put her evil plan in place.

A loud noise made her turn her head, the equivalent of derailing her very fast paced train of thought.

The reporters were making a big fuss about something, with policemen running about. Riku could detect Saehara's exasperated shouting just at the edge of hearing, as the huge spotlights flashed across the night sky wildly.

That probably meant that Dark had made it off with the painting already.

She sighed desolately. If it was up to her, she would just employ beautiful, purely feminist women with the lust to kill for the police force and tell them that Dark was the stuff of perverse nightmares and the ultimate chauvinist before releasing them at the site of his next heist and just sitting back to wait.

She was sure that within minutes of him attempting to steal whatever art piece, they would have ambushed him, elbowed him, sat on him, handcuffed him and made him heartily regret the day that he ever said that 'All women in the world belong to me!'

Of course, that was only if _she_ was in charge of the police force. Riku allowed herself a small smile as she indulged in that little fantasy. Dark being dragged off into the depths of feministic horror as the women looked on with murderous glee…

'Well _someone_ sure looks cheerful tonight.'

The dream vanished. Riku opened her eyes… and saw nothing.

There was a brief chuckle. 'Up here, above the lamp, silly.'

She turned her head and looked up. There, above the blinding light from the lamp stood a shadow bearing wings and a Cheshire cat smile.

Riku had never felt so happy to see Dark Mousy before.

'You came!' she smiled, backing away from the glare from the lamp to see him clearly.

Dark Mousy blinked. Something was wrong tonight. Riku never _smiled_ to see him.

It was like that Hikari kid growing a mole or something, which was _equally_ disturbing.

Landing neatly on the ground, he strode to Riku and when he was just inches away from her face, placed a slightly concerned hand on her forehead.

'Are you _alright_?' Dark asked, checking her forehead against his. 'Not that I'm complaining but you're _never_ happy to see me.'

Riku laughed as his hair tickled her face. Dark began to fear for her sanity.

'No, I'm perfectly alright – I'm just so happy to see you, as I was looking for you just now –'

She pushed his hand away lightly. Dark stopped her hand, intrigued by the piece of news he just heard.

'I'm sorry? You were _looking_ for _me_?'

'Yeah. I didn't know how to find you.'

'Are you sure it's not that guy Niwa or something?' Dark asked. He had to be sure. Riku was acting _weird_ tonight. Maybe the Satoshi kid got boils…

At his words, Riku remembered herself. _Daisuke!_

Right. She was doing this for him, to stop that jerk from finding her again.

'That reminds me,' Riku chirruped, before growing ominous. 'Dark! You and I have to talk!'

Dark could only look on in polite confusion when Riku took his hand and pulled him into the back alley where her bicycle was parked.

'Riku –?'

Now safely hidden in the back alley where no one could see them, Riku turned around and glared at the bemused Phantom Thief, summoning up all the anger and courage inside her for the ultimate get back plan.

'Now that's more like you. For a moment there I thought you got switched with Risa or something,' Dark grinned. 'So what's up?'

Riku narrowed her eyes and smiled briefly – before grabbing his collar and pulling him down to her face level.

'Someone once told me that in order to feel much, _much_ better after you've gotten _angry_ at something,' Riku breathed into his face, slowing her words down and allowing them to sink in, 'One would have to get _even_.'

Dark's internal alarm system automatically went 'Eeep!' even though he was only centimetres away from Riku's face, a dream come true.

Dark tried to calm himself down. Riku wouldn't resort to murder… right?

'Erm… so?' he asked innocently, albeit a little feebly.

'So…' Riku relished every word, licking her lips. 'I'm here to get… _even_.'

Then closing her eyes, she pulled Dark into a kiss.

Riku had planned long and hard for this kiss. It was to be long, _hot_ and breathless, exactly how she would have hated it, just to let him know how much she didn't like him doing it. She pulled him closer, her hands releasing his collar to go around his neck just to prevent him from escaping and kissed all the more harder, as her mind filled with thoughts on how her own elite female police force would take Dark down once and for all.

Her mind somewhere else, she pressed her entire body close to him, feeling the sheer _flatness_ of his body against hers. There was a dull thud as his back hit the wall as he backed into it, pushed by the sheer force of her weight.

It then occurred to her that something seemed terribly wrong with her plan. She had expected Dark to be utterly put off by this show of dominance from her and push her away in a disgusted manner (like she did) but…

She felt his arms go around her body, holding her in place.

A red flag in her mind went up and waved madly. Her heart rate did the same, increasing almost astronomically.

She felt his lips move slowly… carefully… hungrily, almost reverently, over hers, covering every inch, as though afraid to miss a spot.

Behind that lone red flag, at least five more popped up and began waving madly as well. Riku's face heated up faster than an egg cooking.

She felt herself backing… moving… as Dark pressed back before she hit the wall rather painfully. Then she felt _his_ body, pressing hard onto hers, feeling the tingle between their flesh… then she heard him _moan_ between their mouths, making her hair stand. Definitely not from agony.

… And in our figurative laundry basket, the clothes were already rotting spectacularly.

One big and brightly coloured phrase appeared in her head.

Oh_ no. _

Riku lost her common sense then, and began to panic.

_Damndamndamn_! He was kissing _back_! Oh no! This wasn't supposed to happen!

Opening her eyes, her body went into automatic; her arms immediately began pushing against his chest, her legs began to move, kicking him in the shin –

'Damn it, Riku!' Dark swore as the pain woke him up from La-la Land.

He released her involuntarily, his hands going to his excruciating left shin.

Riku's eyes began to tear as she rubbed her lips hard.

'Oh no! This wasn't supposed to happen! It wasn't supposed to be like this!' She began backing away from him, out of the alley.

'Hey! Riku! Hey! Wait! What –?' Dark could only gasp in pain as Riku stared at him in horror, looking as though she was ready to bolt.

His hand shot out and grabbed hers, pulling her down to her knees as he landed similarly beside her painfully, resisting the urge to change back into Daisuke.

'Wait! Riku! Don't run! What happened? What did I do wrong? Why wasn't it supposed to be like this?' he asked urgently as Riku dissolved into tears in front of him. 'Was I being too forceful?'

Riku hid her face in her hands. How was she going to face Daisuke now?

'It wasn't supposed to be like this… I'm sorry, Dark... I'm sorry!' she gasped tearfully. Dark was completely at sea. What happened?

'Wait, Riku. Calm down… Breathe deep.' He patted her back as she hurriedly stopped crying, as though remembering who she was with. Soon, she stopped completely.

'Now tell me what happened.'

Riku glared back at him, causing Dark to jump back in alarm. Now that she was no longer upset about her plan backfiring on her, she resolved to be angry instead.

'It's entirely _your_ fault!' she yelled. 'You weren't supposed to kiss back!'

Dark blinked, feeling completely lost.' But why? Anyone would kiss back! Especially me…' he added suggestively. Riku ignored his evocative tone.

'This was supposed to be my _revenge_!'

Dark was completely nonplussed. 'How is kissing me supposed to be revenge?'

Riku turned red again before turning to the side, refusing to say a word. Dark smiled knowingly, loving her flustered look even more.

He reached out for her chin, taking it and using it to turn her head, so that she faced him in her full blushing glory. He leant down, his arms going around her waist again, his eyes fluttering close naturally and he stopped just millimetres away from her right ear.

'Now…' he breathed, resisting the urge to nibble her ear _and_ to turn back into Daisuke, 'You were all eager to get _this_ close to me just now, and we're all very _familiar_ friends with each other right…?' He paused, letting that sentence sink in. 'So what's stopping you now… hmmm?'

Riku lost her temper then. Other than her plan backfiring on her, here was the Thief, completely misunderstanding her intentions! She pushed him back again, her eyes glowing with frustration and anger, still refusing to say anything. How could she tell him her plan? It looked so _stupid_ to her now. Oh, she _shouldn't_ have listened to Risa!

Dark seemed to guess her feelings. He took both of her hands and held them gently in his own.

'Look, Riku,' he murmured, smiling gently and looking in her eyes. 'I don't know what this is about… but you have to tell me, so that we'll get this huge misunderstanding cleared up alright? I don't know why I wasn't supposed to kiss you back, so you have to tell me, alright?'

Dark was silently praising his inner self. He was so bloody _patient_ with her all the time… guess some of Daisuke's charm rubbed off onto him.

Something clicked in Riku. The smile… the expression in his eyes was so… obviously…

_Niwa_, her mind whispered.

'I…' she started. 'I…'

Dark's smile lingered, waiting for her to continue.

'I wanted to let you know… how it felt like… to be kissed… without…' Here she stopped, before taking a deep breath. What the hell. It was completely ruined anyway. She had better tell him or else he'd be whining about it for _weeks_ ahead. 'Without permission. So I thought that if I kissed you… erm…' Here words failed her, and she struggled a little before settling on the one she felt was most suitable. 'If I kissed you a little… too _roughly_, you wouldn't like it.'

Riku stopped here, her face scrunched up as though she had eaten something decidedly unpleasant.

'Unfortunately,' she continued just as Dark's jaw, which had fallen in the most un-Dark manner, recovered itself. 'It, very obviously, backfired on me.'

She turned to the side again, blushing furiously and hating herself for blushing.

Dark stared at her. He hoped that the Hikari kid was suffering from a nosebleed, because this was absolutely impossible.

Riku, the dear, sweet, innocent little thing, in her twisted mind for revenge had attempted to kiss him back, all because she thought, him – Dark Mousy the flirt extraordinaire who staked all women as his, wouldn't like it as she didn't.

Dark wanted to laugh. He really did. This would have been hilarious if it didn't concern Riku. However, he took a deep breath and then looked at Riku again, this time kindly and with a bit of luck, with not so much of a twinkle in his eyes. He hoped her wasn't smiling too widely either.

'I'm very sorry, Riku, that it backfired at you,' he said in all seriousness but inside he was torn between the mad desire to fall on his back and laugh till the tears came or to hug Riku and never let go.

Riku narrowed her eyes. 'Yeah, right.' The day Dark Mousy was sorry he kissed a girl would be the day Hiwatari's fan club dumped him for Saehara.

'Look, I really am! I didn't know!'

'You weren't _supposed_ to know!'

With that, Riku stood up with a huff and began to walk away, taking her bicycle with her. It was getting late and her plan had been utterly ruined. There was no point in staying any longer.

Dark sighed and picked himself up as he saw Riku beginning to wheel away. He really didn't know what to do with Riku: one moment he could be getting along fine with her, actually talking about normal things like the stars for one, and the next she would be gone, either furious or upset about something he did.

That woman was truly a puzzle; one that he was determined to solve.

'Look, I'm really sorry!' he called, beginning to run after her.

Riku waved back at him with only one hand, already getting on her bike.

'Yeah, I know!' she called back. 'Don't come after me; I'll go home myself.'

Once again, Dark was amazed at this women's naivety. Did she not know that besides being a complete flirt with women, Dark Mousy was a gentleman?

With a smirk, he called With and swooped in the sky after her.

'I'll take you home!' he called from above her and enjoyed the huge reaction he got from that mere sentence, before wheeling down to help.

Riku sat up on the pavement, having lost her balance and fallen at the sound of Dark's voice above her head and the sweep of his wings ruffling her hair. A hand was extended towards her. She looked up to see Dark mousy standing in front of her, smirking widely.

'Looks like you need my help after all,' he said quietly.

Riku looked at her knee, which had been scraped badly. She winced, the pain beginning to get through her body's automatic anaesthetic. Ignoring Dark's hand, she struggled onto her own two feet and righted her bicycle. Dark looked on in mild amusement.

'Are you sure you don't need my help?'

'Yeah,' Riku replied shortly, beginning the long way home in short walks and limps 'I'm perfectly fine. I can go home myself. Goodnight.'

Hadn't she realised, Dark mused, that every time she had said 'Goodnight' for the past two days, something was bound to happen between them?

He smiled, shrugged to himself and swept her into his arms.

'Forget the bike. There's an easier way to travel,' he replied softly with a wink. Riku only managed to look wildly scandalised in her shock.

Then the screaming began as he took to the heavens.

'Dark!' she wailed as he went higher and higher, gripping his coat in a vicelike grip. 'Put me down!'

Dark grinned. 'Really?'

Riku's grip on his coat tightened even more as she looked down. 'No, you idiot, _land_!'

'But I'm having so much fun!'

'Dark…' Riku's voice turned dangerously low. 'You are landing, or else.'

'Else…?' Dark mimicked playfully, flying down lower nonetheless.

'Else, I'll kick you…' Here she paused thoughtfully. 'Where it hurts.'

With Riku looking so terrifying, Dark took her at her words and landed at her balcony swiftly and safely.

She entered her room quickly, and found a first aid kit in one of her drawers and began tending to the bleeding, which had stopped just a few moments after Dark took flight.

And throughout the performance, Dark had just leaned at the doorway in silence, watching her every move.

Riku looked up as she placed the finishing touches on the bandage to find that the Phantom thief was still there, watching her with an unidentifiable look on his face.

'Hey! Don't you have to go somewhere with that painting?'

Dark snapped out of his reverie and straightened himself.

'Oh. Yes. Thanks for reminding me,' he murmured, picking up the wrapped painting on the floor and preparing to leap from the balcony.

He turned and smiled wistfully back at her.

'Goodnight, Riku. You aren't afraid of the _dark_ now, are you?'

And he laughed to himself as he swept into the air, ignoring Riku's scream of fury and the accompanying book that shot past his left leg as he flew out.

And our laundry basket is complete, attracting at least six different species of fly, and already aspiring to be a mushroom farm.

Later, as Daisuke pulled himself into bed, exhausted by another night's theft, Dark called to him.

'Hey, Daisuke? I'm withdrawing my day with my Sacred Maiden. And… I have _another_ brilliant idea.'

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Heka: I had plenty of fun with this, especially with the Satoshi similes.

Dark: Yeah, I had fun with that too.

Shigure: I didn't.

Heka: Shigure never has fun!

Shigure: Pffft.

Heka: After I read Book 9 and 10, Risa appears to have redeemed herself in my eyes! Though I still support Dark and Riku, Dark and Risa now doesn't seem so bad to me anymore, which made writing this last part really difficult as I kept imaging Risa…

Dark: Mmm hmmm.

Shigure: You just switched sides didn't you?

Heka: No! I still support Dark and Riku!

Dark: Really?

Heka: I think she's cute! Review and you get Dark!

Dark: What? Hey! What!

Heka: It's a Christmas surprise this year! Get the parcels ready, Shigure!

Dark: Hey I'm not going to be drugged again –!


End file.
